Blueprint drier



Sept. 28, 1943- H. H. SULLIVAN BLUE PRINT DRIER Filed Oct. 10, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet l Sept- 1943- H. H. SULLIVAN 2,330,395

BLUE PRINT DRIER Filed Oct. 10, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Sept. 28, 1943 BLUEPRINT DRIER Harry Hewes Sullivan, Rochester, N. Y., assignor to Paragon Revolute Corporation, Rochester, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application October 10, 1938, Serial No. 234,203

3 Claims.

The present invention relates to a blue print drier and to a method for drying sheet material.

In order to insure a more uniform drying of relatively wide sheets of material to the end that the material will dry evenly, without developing waviness or curling, while permitting av maximum drying speed, it is proposed to provide an improvedmethod and apparatus for drying sheet material.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a method of drying paper, cloth or the like in substantially fiat condition, free of undesirable waviness or curling which comprises applying hot air or gas to the material to be dried in such a manner that the hot air or gas strikes the center of the strip first and is progressively applied outwardly toward the edges of the strip.

It is a further object of this invention to pro- Vide an apparatus for drying paper, cloth or the like, comprising adjustable nozzles or tuyeres which first direct hot air or gas toward the center of the material to be dried and then from the center toward the edges of the material.

Another object of this invention is to combine a second drying unit with the mentioned nozzles or tuyeres for applying additional hot air or gas to the material to be dried. I i

It is also an object of the invention to utilize the heat from the lamps of the printer of a blue-print machine to furnish at least a part of the heat necessary to dry the prints or negatives made therein.

These and other objects will be apparent from the detailed description and claims when taken with the drawings in which,

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a blue print machine, partly in section, illustrating one embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary end elevation of the machine shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary side elevation of a blue print machine partly in section, illustrating a modified form of the invention and g Fig. 4 is a view taken on line 44 of 3 showing particularly the nozzles or tuyeres for applying hot air to the front rolls of the drier unit.

While in the embodiments shown in the drawings there has been illustrated a blue print machine of the type disclosed in Patent No. 2,179,026, granted November '7, 1939, and although the novel drying mechanism herein disclosed, is particularly adapted for use with that machine, it will be understood that the invention is not limited to such application, for the principle of the present invention can be applied to any sheet drying process where due to shrinkage of the material being dried, or to other causes, there is a tendency for the dried sheet to be wavy or uneven.

The combined blue print machine and drier generally indicated by reference character 5 has been shown only in outline to illustrate the relation of the parts and the manner of utilizing the present invention. A more complete description of the machine and its operation will be found in the patent mentioned above. However, it should be understood that the blue print machine comprises the printer unit generallydesignated 6, developing unit 1 and a drier unit 8. The construction and operation of the drier unit 8 is fully described in the mentioned patent while the general structure of the printer unit fiis disclosed in Sullivan Patent#1,924,'758 granted August 29, 1933, and therefore a detailed description of these, units and their operation need not be repeated here.

The printer 6 in the apparatus shown, includes a revolvable glass cylinder 9 in which one or more lamps l0 are supported for the purpose of exposing sensitized paper, cloth or the like designated H, through a transparent or translucent drawing ortracing in a manner now well-known. These lamps generate a substantial amount of heat which must be removed to prevent overheating of the printer. To remove the air heated by the lamps from within the cylinder, there is provided a motor-driven centrifugal fan l2 hingedly mounted at I3, on an end frame M of the printer 6. Thefan l2 draws the hot air from within the revolvable glass cylinder 9 and forces it into the stack l5. The stack I5 communicates with a chimney flue (not shown) into which the hot air may be discharged. Since it is an object of this invention to utilize this normally wasted heat, the stack I5 is provided with a branch pipe it into which the hot air may be directed by means of a deflector ll disposed within the T-shaped stack pipe l8. The deflector l1 slidably mounted within the pipe I3 is shifted by means of the hinged handle 19 to either of the positions shown to allow the hot air to be selectively directed into the pipe IE or upwardly into the stack Hi to the chimney flue.

The pipe I6 is connected by means of an elbow 20 to a pipe 2| disposed in the axial center of the machine 5 as shown in Fig. 2. The pipe 2| in turn communicates with the forked or bifurcated pipe 22. The pipe 22 and elbow 20 are preferably supported by means of brackets 23 bolted or otherwise suitably secured to the side frames of the drier unit 8. The rearwardly projecting end of each of the branches of the pipe 22 is provided with a flanged rim 24 on which is rotatably seated the complementary flanged end 25 of a related discharge nozzle or tuyere 26. Each nozzle 26 is rotatably secured to its related branch of pipe 22, by means of a bolt 2'5 anchored in a spider 28 disposed in the branch. The outer ends of these bolts project through bosses 29 preferably formed integral with the nozzles 25. A bar 3i! apertured to receive each of the projecting bolts 2'! acts as a spacer bar for the bolts and also as a Washer to allow the locking nut 3! to be drawn up snugly I while at the same time allowing the nozzles to be manually spread apart or swung to any desired angular relation about the bolts Without disturbing the position of the locking nuts 3!.

Each nozzle 26 tapers toward the closed end and is provided. with a longitudinally extending opening 33. The opening 33 is defined by I the vertical flanges 3d and communicates with the interior of the tapered nozzle. Equally spaced horizontal fins 35 extending between the flanges 3d, divide the opening 33 into a series of ports 36 and guide the hot air discharged by the nozzle in a generally horizontal direction. The taper of the nozzles is such that an equal quancity of air is discharged through each of the ports 35, this being accomplished by shaping the nozzles so that the cross-sectional area'cf the chamber within the nozzle at any given transverse section is substantially equal to thetotal cross-sectional area of each of the ports below the given section.

The nozzles it open toward the rear of the drier unit 8 which comprises a plurality of freely rotatable metal rolls or drums 3'1, which may be heated in any suitable manner if desired. These drums are arranged in two vertical banks and are supported in staggered relation on the end frames of the drier.

As the exposed sensitized material ii leaves he printer 6 it is guided by rolls 38, 39 and through a tank 4! containing water; the paper strip is guided by a roll 42 through a tank 33 also containing water to insure that the paper is thoroughly saturated before it engages the roll 52 which otherwise might introduce wrinkles in the strip. Thereafter the web or strip of paper passes over the guide roll M to a fixing solution.

In former machines of this character, a single tray for a treating solution was provided. so that when it was desired to change to a photosensitive paper requiring a diiierent treating solution it became necessary to drain the tray and refill it with the appropriate solution. However, the present machine is provided with two tanks t5 and 45. in side by side relation, one of which such as 65 may contain hypo and the other tank 45 may contain potash, so that two-types of paper, one requiring hypo and the other requiring potash in its fixing or toning may be treated in the machine without the annoyance and delay of draining and substituting the required solution. It will of course be understood that when the hypo solution is used,the paper should not pass through the potash solution and vice versa. A pipe P for overflow has branches connected to the tanks 43, 45, 46 andi i. In order to provide for selectively guiding the paper into the desired one of the tanks 45 or 46, a pair of rollers i? and 48 substantially co-extensive with the width of the paper-to be fed through Thence the arms.

the machine, are mounted at the respective ends of a pair of arms 49. One of these arms is pivotally mounted at an intermediate point thereon at one side of the machine and the other is similarly mounted at the other side of the machine. Suitable detents 59 of any well-known construction may be used for holding the arms #39 and the rolls ll and 48 supported thereon, in one of two selected positions, for example, each detent 553 may be in the form of a spring-actuated pinprojecting in such a direction that it can engage respectively the openings 5! in one of As illustrated in Fig. 1, the arms A9 are in such position that their roll il mounted thereon, directs the paper into the hypo solution while the dotted line position shows the arms 39 in their alternate position in which the roll 43 carried thereon guides the paper into the potash solution. Let it be assumed that the arms 39 are in the selected position illustrated in Fig. lin which case the strip of paper is guided by the roll 41 into the hypo solution in the tank d5 from which the paper emerges passes over the guide rolls 52 and 53 into the washing water in the tank 55. Let it now be assumed that the arms 49 are in the selected position shown by the dotted lines, in which case the paper after leaving the tank of water 53 passes over the guide rolls M and 52 and thence about the guide roll .8 into thepotash solution in the tank On emerging from this tank the strip of paper passes over the guide roll 53 into the washing solution contained in the tank 5 3. The strip of paper having been thus fixed or toned and having been washed in the tank 54 passes between the wringer rolls 55 to the upper drum 55 of the drier 8. The material then passes downwardly in a zig zag path about the remaining drums to the winding mechanism 51.

While in Fig. 2 the nozzles 26 have been shown as being disposed in substantially a vertical position it will be understood that they may be swung about the bolts 27 as pivots into any desired angular relation, e. g. as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2. Thus the rate of application of hot air from thecenter to the edges of the paper may be controlled to any degree desired.

After adjusting the nozzles'to the desired angular relation, the hot air first comes into contact with the center of the strip ii and as the strip moves downwardly through the drier unit, the hot air is gradually applied toward the outer edges of the strip. The tendency of paper or cloth to curl or be wavy when dried by applying heat uniformly across the width of the paper or cloth is apparently due to the fact that the edges dry faster resulting in uneven shrinkage of the wet material. By the present invention the paper or cloth may be dried uniformly by applying the drying heat to the center of the material first so that the material will begin to dry at the center and by the time the edges are dry the center will also be dry.

While the nozzles 26 discharge enough hot air to dry the strip i I, heat may be applied to the drums 3'! in any suitable manner to shorten the drying time and thus increase the speed at which the machine may be run. Additional heat may also be applied to the paper by means of a second or supplementary hot air drier The drier 53 comprises a flat, substantially rectangular chamber 59 having long narrow ports '50 extending horizontally across one face. A heat source 6! which may comprise a series of-resistors or the like and a centrifugal fan 52 driven by a motor 63, supplies hot air or gas through the tapered pipe 64 to the lower end of the chamber. Since it is proposed to force hot air into the bottom of the chamber 59 the depth thereof progressively decreases toward the upper closed end so that the cross-sectional area at any given section is equal to the total area of the outlet ports 60 above the given section to provide an equal amount of hot air at each port 60. While the drier 58 applies hot air uniformly across the width of the material being dried, it nevertheless cooperates with the hot air being discharged by the nozzles 26 in that it applies heat to the side of the paper opposite from that dried by the hot air flowing from nozzles 25.

It will be understood that while there has been shown a separate source of hot air for the supplementary drier 58, it may be desirable to utilize the heat from the printer lamps l and to this end a branch pipe from the stack I may be connected to the drier 58 in substantially the same manner as in the modification illustrated in Fig. 3. It will also be understood that the nozzles 25 could be supplied with hot air from a source other than the lamps IE], but that in the specific embodiment herein illustrated, it has been found economical to utilize the normally wasted heat from the printer unit.

It will be understood that the present machine may incorporate the threading mechanism disclosed in the mentioned copending application for first guiding the strip through the compound series of rolls 3! of the drier unit.

As shown in Figs. 3 and 4, instead of using a flat chamber, such as 59, at the front of the drier unit 8, this chamber may be replaced with a pair of adjustable tapered nozzles 65 which function in exactly the same manner as the nozzles 26 in that they apply hot air first to the center of the moving strip and as the strip moves downwardly through the drier unit 8, hot air is applied nearer the side edges of the paper.

The application of the nozzles 26 to this modified form of the invention is the same as that shown with the apparatus of Figs. 1 and 2 and the description thereof need not be repeated. Similarly, the constructionand relation of the taper of the nozzle 65 to the ports 66 is the same as in the case of the nozzles 26. The nozzles 65 are pivotally supported by means of bolts 61 mounted for sliding adjustment in the slot 68 formed in the frame 69 and which receive the apertured bosses on the closed end of each nozzle. Nuts 1|, clamp the bosses 10 between the washer l2 and the frame 69 of the drier unit 8. The lower ends of the nozzles 65 are provided with flexible tubes 13 which are in turn connected to the forked pipe 14. The pipe 14 communicates with the stack l5 of the printer (not shown) through a pipe 15. The pipe 15 may be provided with a conventional damper 16 so that it may be rendered inoperative or may be used in combination with the nozzles at the will of the operator. While in this modification it is proposed to use the normally wasted heat of the printer lamps I0, it will be appreciated that separate sources of heat may be used for either or both sets of nozzles 26 and 65.

From the above description, it will be seen that there has been provided an improved blue print machine whereby the handling of the blue print paper or cloth has been facilitated and the speed of operation of the machine has been increased,

while at the same time the quality of the resul ing prints has been improved. Thus without undue delay, the blue print paper or cloth may be selectively directed into the appropriate treating solution sothat the drier unit may be operated without loss of heat of the lamps ill or heat source 6! as would be the case if it re notes sary to shut down the entire blue p1. 1|) machine while a new treating solution were he supplied to the single tank of prior machines. It will be appreciated that by continuously operating the drier unit which is possible by virtue of the improved developing Lmit herein disclosed, it is possible to maintain the heat output of the drier unit at a substantially constant or predetermined value.

What I claim is:

1. A machine of the class described comprising a frame, a series of drums rotatably mounted in parallel relation in said frame for guiding sheet material in a given path, a pair of nozzles, each connectable to a source of drying medium and provided with an elongated opening therein, means for supporting said nozzles in angular relation in a plane substantially parallel to portions of the surface of said sheet with their adjacent ends located near the medial transverse axis of said drums and with their other ends respectively near the margins of said sheet whereby said nozzles diverge in the direction of movement of said sheet, said nozzles being supported with their openings directed toward said sheet, and means for adjusting the angularity between said nozzles.

2. A machine of the class described comprising a frame, a series of drums rotatably mounted in parallel relation in said frame for guiding sheet material in a given path, a pair of tapered nozzles, each connectable at its larger end to a source of drying medium and provided with an elongated lateral opening therein, means for supporting said nozzles in angular relation in a plane substantially parallel to portions of the surface of said sheet with their adjacent ends located near the medial transverse axis of said drums and with their other ends respectively near the margins of said sheet whereby said nozzles diverge in the direction of movement of said sheet, said nozzles being supported with their openings directed toward said sheet, and means for adjusting the angularity between said nozzles.

3. A machine of the class described comprising a bank of parallel. rota-table drums for guiding a sheet in a given path, a pair of nozzles at one side of said bank, each nozzle being connectable to a source of drying medium and provided with an elongated opening, means for adjustably supporting said nozzles about axes normal to said drums and adjacent the medial line thereof with said openings directed toward the sheet, said nozzle openings diverging in the direction of movement of said sheet from said axes toward the margins of said sheet, and a second pair of angularly disposed apertured nozzles mounted at the opposite side of said bank symmetrically to said medial line with said apertures extending in divergent relation in the direction of movement of said sheet, said last-mentioned nozzles being connectable to a source of drying medium and having the apertures therein directed toward said sheet. 7

HARRY HEWES SULLIVAN. 

